PODICEPS CRISTATUS.

Great-crested Grebe.

Colymbus cristatus, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 222.
urinator, Linn. ibid., p. 223.

Podiceps cristatus, Lath. Ind. Orn., tom. ii. p. 780.

Lophaithyia cristata, Kaup.

 

Tux flat countries of Norfolk very closely resemble those of Holland, and are especially suited to this
Grebe; and here, if unmolested, it would, after arriving in March, construct its great floating weedy nest
among the reeds which fringe the sides of the little inland seas called broads, There might be seen the
mated pairs sailing about in the open, with uplifted necks, coquetting and swimming round each other,
displaying their silvery breasts, ear-tufts, and tippets to the best advantage. It will be observed that orna-
mentation is carried to the fullest extent, among the Grebes, in this species; for there is not one that
is more conspicuously decorated,—the decoration being equally borne by both sexes, that they may vie with
each other in the display they make during the season of love. This is no gay dress of the male to attract
the female; for the crest and tippets is the nuptial costume of both. In the Norfolk broads (the place
of waters and reed-beds) this elegant Grebe is a denizen. Surely it would cause regret to all if this truly
indigenous bird should be utterly destroyed ; a protest may reasonably be urged, that the remnant may, in
future, receive the protection that will frustrate such an end. Norfolk has already lost several of its elegant
birds; that the Grebe is not yet enumerated among those which are extinct is a matter of some congra-
tulation, but at the same time of apprehension for its speedy destruction. Independently of Norfolk, Suffolk,
and the fens of Lincolnshire, there are other parts of England where the Crested Grebes take up their
summer residence. The extensive sheets of water in Cheshire, in Staffordshire, and Shropshire are yearly
tenanted by them ; and one, two, or more pairs generally rear their young in such localities.

I have now spoken of some of the places in the British Islands which form a summer home for the Crested
Grebe. Independently of these there are many others, particularly in our midland counties ; and from Cornwall
to the Hebrides it occurs at one or other season of the year. As a matter of course, in the Emerald Isle,
with its extensive waters, this bird is also found, but in much less abundance than in England.

In Holland, Germany, and Switzerland it is extremely numerous. Northward it at least extends to Sweden
and Norway, spreads over the countries of Europe generally, occurs in Africa from north to south, and is also
found in India (probably throughout the peninsula), and eastwardly from the Caucasus to China and Japan.
Dr. Richardson states that it breeds in the North American fur-countries, and we have evidence that it is
also found throughout the whole of the United States. In Australia it is represented by the very
nearly allied but distinct species to which I have given the name of Podiceps australis.

Sufficient, I think, has been said to show that the Crested Grebe is a regular resident of the British Islands.

During winter it lives at the mouths of rivers and estuaries of the sea, seeking inland waters in March or
beginning of April for the purpose of breeding : it is then that the ornamental appendages of the head and
neck are assumed ; after the breeding-time, they are thrown off and the parts assimilate in colour with the
rest of the body. Its powers of flight are limited. It is truly a bird of the waters, where it dives for fish,
insects, Mollusca, and other animals, both freshwater and marine. Its nest is a large heaped-up mass of
weeds, which float on the surface of the mere; and its eggs are five or six in number, of an elongated form
and of a stone-white colour. When newly batched, these little creatures of a day old present a truly
ainted faces and striped bodies; at this early period of their existence, their

singular appearance, with their p
On the day they emerge from the shell, they swim and breast the gentle

instinct and agility are astonishing.
ripple, or dive beneath the surface, if avy danger should warn them to do so. When wishing to repose, they,
scramble on the back of the mother, who sails about in the sunshine with her progeny,
will dive with them beneath the surface, as I have also known the Little

like young Cygnets,
and, if necessary to avoid danger,
Grebe to do.

«Since 1851,” says Mr. Stevenson,
sea, and other broads, scarcely more than asi
at Rooworth, Hoveton, where every care is taken to prevent molestation, they are met with during the
«T have had many opportunities of watching their habits on their

‘up to which time the bird was always numerous on the Hickley, Horn-
ngle pair have been known to breed there. On the other hand,

 

summer months.” This gentleman adds,
first arrival in spring, when they occasionally rise on the wing
flight, before settling again over some distant part of the water.
dive off their nests with the least possible motion of the reeds, leaving their eggs lightly covered with loose

and fly round and round with a strong steady
At the approach of a boat, they usually